FEC will not give answer to hypothetical question about Schwartz v. Brown race

The Federal Election Commission on Thursday threw out a request to examine how much of her own money Republican Melissa Brown could spend in her U.S. House campaign against Democrat Allyson Y. Schwartz [in PA-13].

The race is expected to be one of the most competitive House seats in the country this year.

Schwartz's campaign had asked the FEC to determine whether Brown could transfer personal funds from her primary campaign account to her general account. If Brown put more than $350,000 of her own money into the race, she would trigger the so-called "Millionaire's Amendment" - which would allow Schwartz to accept higher contributions, including from state and national party organizations, than what federal campaign finance law generally allows.